Friday, 31 July 2009

Do you have a hand colored Popeye piece from the 30's? It might be worth $13.500!!!Or not.

Sometimes I'm just amazed when I see the stuff people put up on eBay thinking they found a fortune in the attic. The piece above is for sale right now with the following description. Remember this is a "once in a lifetime opportunity"!!!

------------------- "Amazing Large 1930’s Popeye Original Cartoon Artwork. Original one-of-a-kind ink and watercolor artwork on board of Popeye, Olive Oil, Bluto and Sweet Pea at “Jody’s Bar.” It is unclear if this was done for a bar called “Jody’s”, or if they artist is referring to a “jodies” bar which is a drinking establishment near military bases where lonely women hang out while their husbands are away. Unfortunately Olive Oil dancing on the bar does not make it any easier to figure out. The piece is signed by the artist “Neely (?)”. The letters “EELY” are easy to read however the first character appears to be either an “N” or “K”. Size is 22 x 32’’. Undated, but appears to be 1930’s and guaranteed vintage. A couple of very minor and small scrapes on the surface are visible under close inspection as are a few minor surface wrinkles (all small). Housed in a vintage wood frame. Once in a lifetime opportunity!

EVERY ITEM WE SELL IS GUARANTEED GENUINE."---------------------

BTW: Great that it's guaranteed! I feel so much better knowing that. I wonder if any sucker actually falls for this?

Thursday, 30 July 2009

Got the Roy Nelson original today! And what a thrill to be holding a piece of artwork by this master of design and brushwork. It's a completely different feeling seeing it for real than seeing it on a screen, but just to give you an idea here are two close ups followed by the entire piece. I noticed this stamp on the back of the art. I've never heard of this library before. Does it still exist? Is it filled with original art dating back to the days of Hearst? I can only dram of what once was in that library. Or what still might be in it...

Monday, 27 July 2009

The editor of the Swedish Agent X9 comic book, Johan Kimrin, is looking for help. Modesty Blaise is currently beeing reprinted from the very beginning and to make the reprints the best possible he is looking for collectors willing to share their original Modesty artwork.

As many of you know the proofs available aren't always the best and much of Jim Holdaways delicate line work has been lost. Thanks to collectors like Roger Clark and Tommy Trask he's been able to put together a large part of the first two adventures straight from the original art. And the printed result is fantastic. Just click on the panel below to see how good it can look when you work with good source material. Now we are looking for artwork from the fourth adventure and later ones. (Strip #355 and onwards.) So if you have Jim Holdaway artwork that you want to share please get in touch with Johan. His mail address is johan dot kimrin at egmont dot se Every one that contributes will be mentioned in the comic book if so desired. The scans should be 600 dpi gray scale or color. Jpeg files works fine.

I hope that as many as possible out there will want to join this project. :)

Sunday, 26 July 2009

Finally... Here are the Andy Hardy pages that I've promised to post. You can see the original pencil script to te left and the printed page to the right. Myself I find it interesting to compare and to see how close the artist follows the layouts provided in the script.

Al Hubbard did the finished art but who did the script? Hubbard himself or someone at Western?

Anyway, I guess that 1950's scripts from Western publishing rarely turns up so I hope you enjoy this post.

Saturday, 25 July 2009

[Edit: Found the book for only $8. :) ]I'm trying to find Brian Walker's "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith" book. If you have a copy on your shelf in decent condition that you want to part with please drop me a line at sekvenskonst at telia dot com

I'm also looking for Barney Google newspaper strips from the 30's and early 40's. Other newspaper strips I'm looking for includes *The Adventures of Patsy by Mel Graff and Charles Raab*Gus and Gussie by Paul Fung*Dumb Dora by Paul Fung and Bil DwyerIf you want to complete your own collection of the above strips I can always trade copies.

Monday, 20 July 2009

As a detour of drawing pretty girls here's a not so pretty one. She's actually a stalker. Reday to deliver a letter to a boy that fears her more than anything else in the world. Because if he doesn't reply to her she will smash his window, climb into his apartment and slit his throat. Just in case you wondered...

My friend Germund just sent me a photo of this sheet music from 1948. It's the Woody Woodpecker ("Hacke Hackspett" in Swedish) song, that was a hit in the States. But, I wonder if the Swedish publishers had any idea at all what Woody Woodpecker looked like...

Edit: Here's the cover to the US version of the sheet music. See how similar yet very, very different they are.

Sunday, 19 July 2009

Back in the 40's and 50's, before it became a magazine more and more oriented towards porn, the magazine Lektyr featured some comics. And they even used them to sell copies by making special cover art. I was lucky to find two of those while browsing stacks of old magazines, during a vacation with my girlfriend and her family a few weeks ago.

Here's a 1945 cover featuring "Styrman Rask".

According to Hans Holm "Styrman Rask" was a Danish comic called "Styrmand Rask", written by Paul Hilsø and drawn by Helge Hansen. It was created as a replacement for Flash Gordon in Dansk Familieblad 1942. (I guess they had problems getting material from the syndicate during WWII.) It ran in Lektyr in Sweden 1945 - 1954.

And here we have "Styrman Rask".

In the same issue we also find "Bill vid ridande polisen" ("King of the Royal Mounted") and "Filimon", a Swedish comic by Helge Forsslund.

A Donald Duck story published in the latest issue of Kalle Anka & C:o (Donald Duck & Co.) here in Sweden is currently beeing discussed on various internet forums. The two pager is about illegal downloading and can be found HERE. Now, this story, H26308, was first published in Holland, December 2007. Was there any reaction to it there? Anyone who knows why it was made? Any special occasion?

There was also a report about it in Aftonbladet (in Swedish) wich can be found HERE.And an open letter to the editors (also in Swedish) can be found on facebook.

Wednesday, 15 July 2009

Did you know that Norman Rockwell once painted a "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" cover? Well, not one that was used on the cover of the comic book, but in one of his paintings you can see the cover of WDC&S 111 on the comic book rack in the left corner.The title of the painting is Shuffleton's Barbershop and was published on cover of The Saturday Evening Post, April 29, 1950.And here's the cover of WDC&S 111, December 1949. [I don't know if the above is common knowledge among fans, but I still thought it would be worth sharing.]

For more on Walt Disney and Norman Rockwell see THIS post on Tagtoonz.

Edit: After redaing Timos comment I searched the Grand Comics Database, looking for what the title above the WDC&S might be. And it seems that it's mostly based on Crime does not pay #79 with a little bit of Crime and Punishment #19 (The man in the bottom left corner.) Both covers drawn by Charles Biro. Thanks, Timo!

Saturday, 11 July 2009

At the Seriernas värld exhibition were three Mickey Mouse strips on display. (Click to enlarge.) I've seen them exhibited before and always labeled as Floyd Gottfredson art. If you know your Gottfredson art and how his style developed over the years it's obvious that the strips are by someone else. Notice how the copyright year has been removed to make identification harder. They were probably sold as Gottfredson dailies by someone who knew they weren't. Here are some close ups:The first time I saw these strips I thought they were made by an assistant, toward the end of Gottfredson's run. But after seeing the original below for sale on eBay I'm quite sure wich strip we are dealing with..."Mickey Mouse and his friends" was produced during the 50's and 60's and the main difference between this strip and the regular MM strip was that it always were a pantomime strip. (Just like the three strips at the exhibition.)

Checking inducks and comparing artwork I'd say the strips are by Julius Svendsen, not Gottfredson.Anyone who disagree?

Wednesday, 8 July 2009

Last week I and my girlfriend visited Örebro to see the comics exhibition "Seriernas värld" at Örebro läns museum. It turned out that the trip was more than well worth it. This is certainly one of the best exhibitions about comics I've ever seen, and I've seen plenty. There are loads of original art on display! You'll find everything from modern (and old) swedish comics to great european and american artists. All put together by Thomas Karlsson with help from collectors and dealers that generously has loaned their treasures. The exhibition is open until September 27. Tuesdays 11-17, Wednesdays 11-21 and Thursday to Sunday 11-17. Admission 50:-. (No admission if you are under 16.)

I took a few snapshots so that you can get an idea of what to expect.(Click on the images to enlarge.)

First we have the entrence with a shop. Here you can buy comic collections and merchandise. There's also a exhibition catalouge in Swedish. It doesn't feature the artwork on display, but it's a perfect introduction to the world of comics to the casual visitor or to someone who just got interested in comics history.

Next we have some photos of the room featuring Swedish artists and comics from other parts of europe. The guy in the first pic is Thomas himself. He was kind enough to take some time off to show us the exhibition.

Let's zoom in on that last pic. Anyone seen those cut up Jan Lööf hand colored comics pages before? Have they been published anywhere? [Edit: Thanks to Håkan I now know where they have been published. See the comments for more info.]

Then we have a room filled with american (and british) comics. Originals by Alex Raymond, Hal Foster (a panel), Burne Hogarth (a full Tarzan sunday), Milton Caniff, Bob Lubbers, Mort Walker etc. The original script to the 12'th part of Watchmen by Alan Moore is also on display.

There's also a room where workshops are held and where kids can draw their own comics. Some Rip Kirby panels made of concrete. :)

There's also a small room with childrens comics featuring artwork by Rune Andréasson and Disney artists like Paul Murry. (Two original pages from his 1972 "Message in a nutshell" is on display.)

Wich leads us to the next post that will focus on a few strips in that room. But until then here's a question: Who drew this?